


Trust Fund, Baby

by notenuffcaffeine



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Derek is a Good Alpha, Gen, I Don't Even Know, M/M, Missing Scene, POV Stiles, Researcher Stiles, Stiles Takes Care Of Derek, Stiles Takes Care Of The Pack, Stiles has the key to Derek's loft, erica and boyd are missing, post season 2 and pre season 3, pre-sterek but it is totally there in my head
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-06
Updated: 2014-06-06
Packaged: 2018-02-03 14:48:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1748447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notenuffcaffeine/pseuds/notenuffcaffeine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles discovers that Derek's having some problems with his pack. So he accidentally fixes a problem with the guy's life while he's trying to convince Derek to let him help find Boyd and Erica.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trust Fund, Baby

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote a thing because it wouldn't leave me alone at work. I swear to god this is a stand-alone. But I'm pretty sure it's now my own personal headcanon for how Stiles got that key. I will never unsee any of this. And I'm totally okay with that.
> 
> \------

The bus depot was the worst idea ever. Stiles was all for creepy chic but this place was just a dump waiting for that one cigarette to light up in a warehouse of doom. But he hadn't seen Isaac, Boyd and Erica at school for two days, and Boyd's little brother had hung out at school all day looking for him. The kid ditched school because he thought his big brother had ditched them. That was a problem. So since Scott didn't know anything, and Allison didn't know anything, that left one option: the Keeper of the Depot-Crypt.

It was daylight out so the place wasn't pitch black, lovely holes in the roof doubled as skylights perfectly, and Stiles made his way inside. Everything was still and quiet and he swore he heard water dripping, but he had also seen way too many movies in his young life. It was weird though; he expected noise. He expected talking. He followed the silence into one of the abandoned vehicles that Derek's pack had been using. He was surprised to find Isaac sprawled on a padded bench against the wall, dirty and looking dead. He thought he saw Derek's legs past one of the bench seats at the end, just off the end of a ratty-looking mattress. The sanitary conditions of the place would have terrified Stiles if it weren't for the fact that he had apparently _snuck up on two werewolves_ who slept way too soundly and looked way too _dead_.

"Isaac?" Stiles said. Nobody moved. So he repeated himself, at the top of his lungs. Isaac startled awake growling, teeth already out and Stiles slammed into the wall trying to put distance between them.

"Isaac!" Derek stood at the end of the car, thank god awake and more cognizant of his surroundings than Isaac. It was enough to make Isaac back off to realize who had trespassed and Stiles kept his neck intact. He was a little worried about developing a heart problem, or maybe asthma, but he was in one piece.

"You two look like hell," Stiles observed, trying to get his feet back under himself.

"What do you want?" Derek asked over it. Stiles looked around the otherwise empty car.

"Boyd's little brother showed up at school looking for him today," said Stiles. "So I figured either he was really busy or you guys had problems."

"Did you tell Scott?" Derek seemed genuinely irritated at the mere prospect. Stiles shook his head.

"Nope. He's busy," he said.

"Good, don't," said Derek. "There's nothing you two can do, so stay out of it."

"Wait- what?" Stiles' jaw hung slack. "You're serious? There's problems? Where's Boyd and Erica? Why weren't they at school?"

Derek crossed his arms. "Why do you think?"

"I dunno, probably the only thing I can knock off the list is _the Black Plague_ because you guys can't freakin' get sick," said Stiles. "But that leaves a shitton more options."

"We think they were kidnapped," said Isaac. Derek glared at him. Isaac shrunk a little and waved halfheartedly at Stiles. "Well? He's the sheriff's kid. He's gonna find out anyway."

"Don't tell your dad," said Derek, his glare turning to Stiles. Stiles balked.

"Are you stupid?" He didn't mean to blurt it out like that, but that's what happened. "I'm not telling my dad jack-shit and neither are you! Who the hell kidnaps werewolves?!"

"I think other werewolves," said Derek. It was like dragging teeth out of him but his glare turned to the wall instead. "But until we find them, I can't prove it. And until we find them, I don't care who took them. I just want them back."

"Okay. Well. Where have you looked?" Stiles asked. Derek arched an eyebrow at him and then looked down at himself, then over at the mess that was Isaac. Stiles put two and two together easy enough.

"Okay, so you checked the preserve," he said. Isaac nodded.

"We were there all weekend. It sucked. I didn't know the place was so huge," complained Isaac.

"Yeah but that's it?" Stiles asked.

"It's been two days," said Derek. "We haven't had time-"

"Maybe you started off wrong to start with the park," argued Stiles. He slung his backpack off his shoulders and started digging through it. He looked around. "This place got wifi?"

"Stiles, stay out of it," said Derek. His tone held a warning. "You're not helping."

"Not without wifi I'm not," said Stiles. Logic said there would be no wifi and he nodded toward the door as he climbed back into the pack. "Come on. You can tell me what you know on the way to my place, then you can borrow our shower. 'Cause you literally need it, man. Both of you."

Derek looked at Isaac; his face said 'move and die' loud and clear and Stiles got frustrated.

"Come on! Let me help!" Stiles protested. "You've been looking for two days and you're just sitting here-"

"We've been _looking_ for _two days!_ " Derek got angry at the accusation and Stiles backed off quick. He held his hands up.

"So let me help," Stiles said. "I don't care if they didn't like me. They're my friends too."

Derek stared at him but the glare faded out of it. Stiles tried again.

"Come on. I got a bathroom that doesn't leak and a freezer full of food. And wifi. And there's nobody meaner with an internet than me."

"They're not on the internet," said Derek. Stiles rolled his eyes at the intentionally obtuse literal meaning of his offer.

"Seriously? I know you're not that stupid," he said. "Drop the act and just lemme help."

Isaac looked over at Derek then, his expression hopeful, and Derek gave a reluctant nod. He reached for his jacket off the seat back beside him. "Fine."

"Thank you," said Stiles. "Now is your car near here or -"

"He sold the car," said Isaac. Derek failed at glaring him into silence. "For like, _half_ what it's worth."

"What? Why? Why would you do that-"

"Too high profile," said Isaac. "The hunters knew it. It stood out."

"I know what high profile means, thank you Isaac," said Stiles. He felt personally offended by the loss of the Camaro. "Okay. So you ride with me. No big deal."

Derek glared at him. Stiles stared back. He wasn't gonna cave. He wasn't.

He did.

Stiles scooted out of the car to go hunt down his jeep, the werewolves following calmly behind.

 

****

 

"What are you doing?"

There was an accusation in the tone and Stiles looked back over his shoulder at Derek quick, trying to placate.

"Well, you said it's another pack, right? And they're leaving messages and have an agenda or some shit, right?" he said. "So they gotta know you. Or they know your family. And they obviously want your attention."

"Yeah, so?" asked Derek. His eyebrows said he didn't understand but at least he was keeping up.

"So we start with you, then. Any _thing_ or _anyone_ Hale is fair game to these people. So we figure out what they know about you and how they're going to use that will follow," said Stiles. Derek shook his head. He reached to shut the laptop screen.

"No."

"No, Derek, I'm serious! This is how you do this," said Stiles. He kept his laptop protectively out of reach and looked from one werewolf to the other. They were in his room - which was weird but at least they were clean now - and he was trying to help and they still didn't trust him. Damn suspicious werewolves. It was in the damn breeding or something. "Just go with me on this, okay? Unless you wanna keep spinning your proverbial wheels in the mud at the preserve and getting nowhere."

"We don't have wheels anymore," said Isaac. Stiles could have facepalmed but it wasn't worth the effort. Instead, he tentatively turned the laptop screen back around.

"Look," he said, pointing to the webpage he was on. "That's a list of your parents' properties-"

"What properties?" Derek and Isaac asked at once. Stiles stared at Derek, dumbfounded.

"What d'you mean, what properties?" he asked slowly. "You know about the apartments and stuff, right?"

"No..."

"Are you kidding- dude! How did you survive this long without money?"

Derek glared again so that was the wrong track. Stiles shook it off. He took the computer back and flipped a few pages. Then he showed Derek the screen again.

"Look. All this is your family's stuff," said Stiles. "Six freaking apartment complexes and three houses for rent and I'm pretty sure that last one is a strip mall."

"What the hell- how do you know that?" Derek took the computer, eyes slightly buggy as he stared at the screen.

"Public records search," said Stiles. "And I may or may not have used my dad's name and password on a thing I may or may not have legal access to at all but that's besides the point." He tapped at the screen. "Any of those are yours. Which means any of those could have a clue to where Erica and Boyd are. They could be there in one of them. We don't know until we check it out..."

"They're not mine," said Derek. "I didn't know about them."

"So? Check the FAQ page, man. The company is managed by a law-firm. I will bet you cold hard cash that that law-firm knows about you," said Stiles. "I will bet you _lunch_ that this is your trust fund, baby, you just gotta be twenty-five before you see any of it."

Derek looked up at him sharply. Stiles smirked. It was so fun messing with rich kids.

"Fine," Derek said. He checked the screen one more time before all but tossing the laptop back at Stiles. He stood up. Stiles' smug grin faded.

"Wait, where are you-"

"I'm gonna go see if I've got a lawyer after all," said Derek. Stiles' face lit up. He started shoving his computer into his backpack.

"I'm going with you," he said. Derek turned on him as he stood. He was suddenly very close and Stiles just barely slammed the brakes in time to avoid a facial collision.

"No you're not," Derek said.

"Yes I am," said Stiles. "You don't have a car. Public transport will take you three hours. And you don't wanna show up at a lawyer's office smelling like you ran there."

There was a stare-off and Stiles didn't back down this time. Derek finally huffed and allowed it. Stiles mentally cheered and dodged around him to open the bedroom door and shoo them out. Isaac just stared at him, sheepish and nervous.

"If it's all the same," he said. "I'll stay here. Not a fan of lawyers."

Derek nodded and headed out. Stiles hesitated, nodded toward the tv in the corner. "We've got satellite," he said. He started to close the door but then added, "No porn."

Isaac rolled his eyes at the ceiling and Stiles shut him inside.

 

****

 

They had to wait like three hours but the lawyer didn't make Derek make an appointment. And, probably because Derek still thought it was all a scam, Derek didn't make Stiles wait in the car. Or even in the lobby. While the lawyer jumped Derek through all the ID hoops and proof-of-personhood, and legal mumbo-jumbo was spewed in triplicate, Stiles found himself sitting in an expensive leather chair - the most comfortable goddamn thing Stiles had ever sat his ass on _why was that possible oh my god_ \- and tried not to fidget. Finally, another hour later, the lawyer spelled everything out for Derek.

"Since the confusion surrounding your sister's death, we haven't been able to find you," the lawyer - a nice man named Gerry, not at all shark-like - told Derek. "We had to scramble to keep things going after that. We weren't expecting a - well, for the sake of paperwork and legal loopholes, it was a crisis all it's own. Your uncle's miraculous recovery freed up his monthly stipend, hers was suddenly absorbed, everything-"

The lawyer seemed to realize then that his legal nightmare had been Derek's miserable reality then and he left the track entirely. "The gist of it is, you have money. You have a share of the company your parents left behind. But you don't have unmoderated access to it for another four years."

"I didn't know they had a business like this-" Derek started but gave up. He seemed in a kind of shock. He looked to Gerry. "I'm literally living on the streets right now. I just sold my sister's car..."

"Well, the good news is we can get you into housing tonight," said the lawyer. He frowned at Derek. "But the financial arrangements will take a little longer."

Derek shook his head. "I'm busy. That stuff can wait."

"Well, a little money wouldn't hurt..." said Stiles quickly. He looked to the lawyer and pointed at Derek. "And seriously, he's not kidding about the streets. Make him get a place to live. Like, a real place."

Derek stared at Stiles, frowning. "What do you care?"

Stiles just shrugged at him. "I told you, man. Whether you people like me or not, we're friends. Not like I've got many. The bar's not set that high, you can handle it."

The lawyer wasn't sure what to do with it but Stiles swore Derek Hale almost grinned at him for it.

 

****

 

The loft was seriously the coolest thing Stiles had ever seen.

"This is so much better than the depot, dude," he said. He pointed to the huge windows. "And the view is a thousand times more awesome."

"How much?" Derek asked the lawyer. He didn't look hopeful. Gerry just shrugged.

"A write-off," he said. "All you'll have to pay is utilities and garbage. The property management absorbs the cost."

Stiles' eyes bugged. "Do it, dude."

"Stop calling me _dude_ ," said Derek, halfhearted and barely paying attention to Stiles as he poked around the big apartment.

"I'll call you stupid if you don't get this," said Stiles.

Derek cast him a glare but he stopped by the windows and got distracted by the sunshine filtered lazily through. A moment later he nodded. "Yeah. This works."

Gerry smiled and held out the keys and Stiles snagged them when Derek didn't immediately go retrieve them. The lawyer gave him a look and Stiles replied with a sheepish sort of shrug.

"He doesn't like to be handed stuff," said Stiles. Derek arched an eyebrow at the window but he didn't say anything.

 

****

 

"This place is awesome, man. You're gonna love it," Stiles promised, unlocking the door and sliding it open for Isaac. Derek nodded his reluctant agreement and Isaac followed Stiles into the loft.

"Woah," he said. He started looking around. Derek pointed to the stairs.

"There's rooms up there," he said. Isaac took the hint and went to explore while the sun was still up and the light-switches were easy to find.

Derek stayed downstairs with Stiles. Stiles moved to hand the keys to Derek but he ignored the effort. Stiles frowned at him.

"You're supposed to help us find Erica and Boyd," said Derek. "But this place doesn't have wifi."

"That's, like, two hours work," said Stiles.

"We've already wasted all day," Derek pointed out.

"Hey! Less than two hours on the job and I single-handedly put a roof over your stupid head," said Stiles, offended. "Give me _at least five_ to find Erica if you've already been at it two days with no luck. I've got a lot of virtual ground to cover too you know."

Holding out the debit card the lawyer had given him just an hour earlier, Derek nodded toward the door. "So go get the stuff for the wifi," he said. Stiles stared at him, shocked. Derek stared back.

"What?" he asked. "You’re the one with the car. And I know you heard him say how much is on there. Isaac and me have to live on it, so don't break it."

Stiles nodded. "Right..." He started toward the door. Best Buy closed in like forty minutes and they would be the only place still open this late at all.

"Bring back dinner," Derek called after him. Stiles rolled his eyes at the door as he opened it to leave. He probably should have expected that. But at least it wasn't Stiles buying the food because he lost the bet.

 

***

 

THE END


End file.
